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This paper is devoted to the topic of relations between the Russian state, Russian society, and the Orthodox Church after the year 2008, when Patriarch Kirill was elected head of the Church. Such relations in Russia have gone through a significant transformation since the beginning of the Post-Soviet period. In the era of Patriarch Alexy II, the Church gradually began to claim a larger political role, the culmination of which was marked by Kirill’s election. At present, the Russian Orthodox Church operates to a certain degree as an institution of Russian political power. Its representatives, led by Kirill, often play a role that is more political than religious. By drawing from primary sources, official documents, media reports, and also speeches made by religious and political representatives, this article attempts to highlight the main issues and areas of cooperation between the state and the Church (e.g. the education system, elections in 2011 and 2012) and explain the ways in which this alliance is advantageous for both parties in relation to the Russian public. The last part of the article deals with how this connection between church and state is perceived by various sections of the Russian public, which is illustrated using several examples from previous years, e.g. the scandal surrounding the members of the feminist punk rock protest group Pussy Riot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following article aims to provide an interpretation of the annual public occasion called the "Liberation Festival" in Pilsen. The Liberation Festival serves as a celebration of the liberation of Pilsen by the U.S. army. Our paper presents a dramaturgical analysis of this occasion. More specifically, our effort is focused on two main interpretative threads. With respect to the first one (called "the production of discourse") we analyse the processes of the (re)production of political discourse related to this public occasion. We also identify the main discourse that is typically produced or reinforced during the Liberation Festival. The second interpretative thread is called "the organizational line of the Liberation Festival". Here, we try to provide examples and identify characteristics of the strategies and practices that can be employed by state apparatuses to present themselves as guarantors of the security of festival goers. Our findings confirm that public ceremonies (like the Liberation Festival) can fulfil the role of a medium that serves to spread actual political discourse, the veneration of actual societal normative order, and a positive portrait of state apparatuses. Our article can thus be viewed as a contribution to the debate on the reproduction of political discourse through public spectacles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the patterns of party patronage in both communist and post-communist regimes in Central Eastern Europe. Firstly, the text outlines the theoretical concept of patronage and explains in more detail the linkage between patronage and other related phenomena - i.e. corruption and clientelism. This part focuses on both the differences and similarities between them. In the second part, the article sketches out the principles of the working of patterns of patronage (so-called nomenclature) in communist regimes. In the last part, the paper discusses changes in the patterns of party patronage after the fall of communism and provides an explanation for the varying practices of patronage among post-communist parties, stressing the institutional legacy of the past. The paper thus generally aims to provide theoretical background for further research on party patronage in postcommunist countries and also in more specific (i.e. local or regional) contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the fall of communist regimes at the turn of the 1990s, a new era of development began in many countries. The transformation from communism wasn't always successful. It is this unfinished transformation which is, as many authors argue, one of the characteristics of post-communism. Post-communist political culture struggles with a number of problems originating in the institutional structure of collapsed regimes. One of them is the high level of corruption. Corruption is not, of course, specific only to post-communist countries. However, as statistical data provided by various organizations show, corruption flourishes in these countries. Moreover, post-communist corruption takes certain forms which are absent in other countries. We may, therefore, classify these forms as the institutional and cultural heritage of communist regimes. The goal of this paper is to introduce the nature of corruption and the causes behind the high level of corruption in post-communist countries; to identify changes which have taken place since the demise of communist regimes; and to present some of the measures employed to fight corruption, as well as the difficulties related to these measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the following article we will utilize dramaturgical analysis to analyse two selected state-organized public events in Slovakia. We contend that public events serve political elites as a tool to manifest their superiority and perform sovereignty, legitimate social hierarchy by constructing an ideological "false consciousness", and produce social cohesion and solidarity by invoking culturally significant symbols. As the objects of our analysis we selected the commemoration of the Slovak national uprising and the ceremonial unveiling of the sculptures of St. Constantine and Methodius. Both of these events can be defined as celebrations of the Slovak state as well as of the Slovak nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]